Pandora
by Nonny The Anon One
Summary: Sam, plus a ghostly key, a mysterious box, and a huge corrupt corporation equals trouble.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: You all know I don't own Danny Phantom. Nor do you..We wish we did though.

Pandora

The day had been perfect for communing with nature. It was hot, in the high eighties, and Sam Manson, deemed it the most beautiful Indian Summer day she'd ever seen in her life. She had sat at the lunch table watching the wind playing with the fire red and burnt gold leaves, breaking out of her reverie only long enough to tell her two best friends that she wouldn't be joining them at the Nasty Burger after school as usual, but was going to spend time with the trees.

Tucker had teased her as he always did, remarking that he'd always felt Sam was much more of a tree hugger than a supposed Goth princess, which earned him a stuck out tongue in response. Danny had called her a nature goddess, and Sam had, in order to keep herself from blushing, attempted to nail him in the knee with her heavy combat boots. Unfortunately, hitting someone who was half ghost and had the ability to turn intangible at will with her boot was a little impossible, but the intent was enough and the teasing stopped.

The moment the final bell rang, Sam ran to her locker, shoved all necessary books into her backpack, threw on her helmet, and jumped on the scooter she'd been grudgingly allowed to bring to school, and was gone before Tucker and Danny decided that they should tag along.

Sam wanted to be alone today. Her thoughts and emotions had been troubling her lately, mostly in regard to Danny, and she felt she needed to give herself not only distance from the famed clueless one in order to prune back her terrible crush. She needed to put her head on straight. Sam Manson was not some silly girl who dropped everything for a boy. She did not compromise herself. She did not twitter and flirt. She did not stop being who she was, just for someone else, even if that someone else had the most gorgeous blue eyes she'd ever seen, the most silky black hair, the most handsome face, and well even if it was Danny. Especially if it was Danny. She wasn't even going to go into the fact that his ability to kick butt in phantom form frequently left her feeling weak kneed and breathless.

The trail to the nature preserve was long, she loved that the road twisted and turned in an effort to preserve the stately oaks and magnificent maple trees. When Tucker came with her to the park, he always complained, always made the remark that the road to the park should have been a straight shot. Sam would argue that a straight shot would cost too many trees and Tucker would point out that any road to the preserve made them cut down trees, and a windy road meant they cut down even more, because the curving road was longer. Sam would then start feeling sad and her day would be ruined. To try and diffuse the situation Danny would fly straight through the trees and say, it didn't matter to him either way. Sometimes her best friends missed the point and irritated her to no end.

"Boys," Sam growled as her scooter putted along, sometimes she wondered why she even bothered as a grumpy mood settled over her. Before the day was over, she was going to wish she'd never ventured into the nature preserve on her own, but for now, she just tried to breath and admire the beautiful fall scenery as she pushed her friends from her thoughts.

Along the road to the nature preserve, parked in one of the several little side areas, was a drab gray sedan. Inside the sedan was a balding middle aged man. One hand was nervously gripping the steering wheel as he stared down the road, the other was on the cell phone pressed to his ear.

"Where are you!?" he breathed to himself as the voice mail picked up. He threw the phone on to the passenger seat then leaned forward, rested his head on the wheel and took a deep breath. When they found him, and it wasn't a matter of if, but definitely when, he was going to be worse than deep and serious trouble. He was dead.

He'd seen it happen too many times for his comfort. Someone betrayed the company, sometimes in the smallest of ways. Maybe they'd stolen something, maybe they'd sold out to a competitor. The unsuspecting culprit would be taken out to dinner, and if they were lucky, if they were really, really lucky, their next memory would be of nothing as they woke up in ICU at the local hospital. Then there were the others, the unlucky ones, The last evidence of their existence was perhaps a dark red stain against a brick wall or something else so grizzly that he'd never been able to contemplate.

This time, he was the culprit, the one who'd done the boss wrong. He knew he'd be lucky if all that was left of him was a jaunty splash of red on a pristine white wall in his office. He patted his front shirt pocket for the four-millionth time that day then took a deep breath then looked down the road again. His contact needed to reach him before they did. He looked at his watch and took another deep breath. If they found him first, then everything he'd sacrificed would be in vain and the world as they knew it, would be over.

"Blasted key," he whispered then tilted his head to listen. He could hear the distant whine road. He knew it wasn't them. He jumped out of his vehicle. They would come in a shiny black SUV in suits and sunglasses, wearing stoic looks on their office light pale faces.

"Stop!" He yelled, standing in the road holding up his arms as the small scooter edged around the corner. His breath caught as Sam screeched to halt. He considered that she couldn't be anymore than twelve or thirteen at the most. Of course, she could have been eighteen, he was notoriously bad guessing ages. He couldn't even remember how old his own two sons were.

Sam stopped and looked at him with wide lavender eyes full of compassion and concern. He shivered a moment, hating himself for what he was about to do as he fished the key from his pocket. There was no choice, the fate of the world depended on him, depended on this moment, and he thought regretfully, this fresh faced young girl.

"I need your help," he rasped breathlessly. He felt like he'd been running a marathon, even though he'd just run maybe twenty feet away from his car. It was too late for him to regret not getting in shape now.

"Do you need an ambulance?" Sam asked worriedly as she leapt from her scooter and rushed forward. The father in him wanted to yell at her for approaching a stranger so openly, the human in him was relieved that she was so willing to help others in need. In another time or place, he'd consider introducing her to one of his sons, if they were the same age that is.

"No," he answered quickly as his eyes darted up and down the road. "No ambulance. I need you to do something for me. Something really important." Sam blinked at the man worriedly then took two steps back. She cursed herself silently for the stupid heroic streak she'd been growing lately. Who did she think she was? Danny? How was she going to defend herself if this guy was a serial killer, or worse?

"I'm sorry," she began evenly as she took a few more steps backward. "I don't think I can help you."

The man shook his head. "No!" he began quickly as he brandished the key. "You're perfect! They'd never think that a sweet, innocent young girl would take the key from me!"

"Dude," Sam said calmly as she held up both her hands. "I don't know what's going on with you, but trust me you don't want anything to do with me. I have friends in high places you know." She didn't like to exploit the fact that Danny Phantom was her friend. She didn't even want people to know, but at the moment she felt like her life was being threatened, and she do what she had to short of revealing Danny's identity.

"Good!" the man replied eagerly as he held the key toward her. "Having friends in high places is good. You'll be able to protect the key!" He paused and looked at her warily. "Your friends wouldn't happen to work for the Highlife Corporation, would they?"

"Uh, no!" Sam answered angrily as she wrinkled her face in disgust. "Their business practices are detrimental to the environment! They practice vivisection! The company needs to be disbanded!"

The man laughed as he stepped forward tentatively. "Listen," he began gently but urgently. "I'm in a lot of hot water with the Highlife Corporation. I've stolen something very important of theirs. Something the big boss wants very badly."

"Why?" Sam asked warily, all thoughts of running fading fast.

The man sighed deeply. "I don't have a lot of time. I'll make this quick." He held up the ghostly glowing green key and Sam's eyes widened.

"Where did you get that?" she asked worriedly. Where was Danny when she needed him, she wondered bitterly at her own desire to be away from him.

"From the vault I used to guard," the man answered on a sigh. "My name is Howard." He started to extend his hand then stopped and frowned as he cocked his head, listening warily.

"Listen," he said nervously. "I don't have time for introductions and stories. This key goes to a box. I can't explain what's inside the box exactly, only that they haven't found it yet, but they want it. My boss thinks he can control it, but he can't. Once the box is open, life as we know it will be over."

Sam looked at the key and then at the frightened expression on Howard's face. She held out her hand, he sighed in relief and handed it to her. "I was supposed to meet with someone from an organization called Good Tidings, they are committed to finding the box and destroying it. If you are in trouble. If you can't keep the key, take it to the president of Good Tidings. No one else can be trusted."

"What's his name?" Sam asked worriedly, wondering what Danny would think of the key now residing in her pocket.

Howard opened his mouth to answer then stopped dead. "You need to go," he told her urgently. "Get out of here as fast you can. Run. If anyone asks. You've never seen me. If, if they start chasing you, do anything you can to keep the key out of their hands. The fate of the world depends on you!" His stomach sank at the thought. The fate of the world depended on a fragile, teen aged girl. They were doomed.

Sam jumped on her scooter and looked at Howard one last time. He waved at her cheerfully then took a deep breath, willing her away as fast as possible. The moment she rounded the corner and was out of sight, he turned to hear the fast roar of a large vehicle coming in the opposite direction. He closed his eyes tight, then turned to face his fate as bravely as he could.

Sam dug her cell phone from her pocket as she zoomed down the narrow twisting forest road, hit speed dial, put the phone to her ear, then cursed. She was out of network range. For the first time ever in her life, she cursed the fact that the nature preserve didn't have a cell phone tower, simply out of principal.

She slowed for a moment to slip the cell phone back in her pocket and check on the key and was startled by a rattling series of gunshots. Her heart jumped up into her throat and her breath caught. She told herself the shots were probably those of evil lawless hunters in the preserve, but her intuition told her, Howard was dead.

"Stupid girl!" Sam growled to herself as she gunned the engine on her scooter to it's top speed of a meager twenty miles per hour. "You picked the worst day in the history of everything to be alone to commune with nature." She was pretty sure that she didn't have much time before whoever Howard had been running from would be turning the corner. She knew there was no way her scooter could out run a car, so she drove it into the brush, covered it as best she could then dove into the bushes just before a large black SUV roared around the corner.

"Where are the cops when you need them!" She thought to herself as she scrambled up from the ground. She looked down the road in the direction the SUV had come and shivered. She didn't think it would be wise to follow the SUV, but she really didn't want to go back the way she'd come, she was terrified at what she'd find.

"Danny," she whimpered as she moved slowly out of the brush toward the road. "I really, really need you." She gathered together her courage and began dislodging her scooter from the bushes. She was steeling herself to head back toward Howard when the SUV swung back around the corner and screeched to a halt.

Sam screamed in shock and fear as she leapt from the scooter. She didn't give the drivers of the SUV a chance to get a good look at her as she fled into the bushes, running as fast as she could in heavy clunky combat boots. Compared to Danny and Tucker she could move pretty darned fast on foot, just not fast enough.

She could hear them calling her, but she didn't listen or turn, she just ran, not caring as branches reached out to claw and tear her clothes. She pulled her cell phone from her pocket again and checked for a signal; still nothing.

"Damn! Damn! Damn!" she cursed angrily then continued to run. She couldn't afford to look for a place to hide, all she could do was run and hope those after her were too used to the cushy job of assassinating people in the city to be in good enough shape to chase a girl through the forest.

"Fat chance, Sam," she told herself as she jumped down into a ravine, and ran until it became narrow enough for her to climb out the other side. She could hear their angry yells catching up to her. She knew she'd have to do something drastic and spectacular to get away. She climbed out of the ravine then veered through a narrow copse of trees into a clearing, she popped open her cell, hit speed dial then nearly cried in relief as it connected and began dialing. She crouched down for a moment willing Danny to answer.

"Danny!" she began weeping at his answer, then pinched her arm hard to force herself to be calm. "I'm in big trouble. I need you. I need you now! I'm in the nature preserve. Some very bad people are after me, not ghosts...I don't think. I'm heading toward the gorge. Hurry Danny! I don't know how long I can evade them!" She shoved the cell in her pocket, looked behind her as she heard the cracking of branches as the after her men pushed through, and she ran.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Sam shot across the clearing chased by angry yells and gun fire. She dove into the undergrowth in panic. Her heart was beating a million miles an hour and her mind was telling her to outrun her heart. Like a fox with hounds after her, she scrambled from the ground and leapt through the forest, dodging trees and doing her best to make her trail as difficult as possible to follow, but fearing what she knew lay ahead of her, just as much as what chased behind her.

Thankfully, Sam knew the nature preserve like the back of her hand, and she was able to lead her pursuers on a merry chase through brambles and rocky terrain before finally circling around to the gorge. She stopped on the edge of a steep hill leading down to the rocky bottom. It was a beautiful place with a brook running through it, but today Sam couldn't stop and admire nature like she always did, instead she looked around frantically wondering where the heck Danny was. There was no where left for her to run. She had been hoping that Danny would show up to rescue her long before she was backed into such a corner.

"Damn it Danny! Where are you?" she hissed as she ran out of time. She had to move now or else. Sam jumped legs first down hill, hoping that the tread on her boots would keep her from tumbling down the steep incline. Unfortunately, her boots had little effect against the pull of gravity and the laws of physics. As first she simply slid down the rocky hill, her butt banging on the gravel, but soon she was skidding head first down the hill, hitting her head several times in the process.

"Stupid!" she cursed at herself as she spun down the hill. What was her problem, she wondered. Did she think she could fly like Danny? Sam knew she was really going to get herself into some real trouble someday, or today, or she already was. For the first time in a long time, she was scared, really scared. Normally she was confident and could push her way past her fears. Normally Danny was with her, and when she was with Danny, anything and everything was possible. She'd have to examine later why she trusted him so much, at the moment she didn't have time.

Sam was thinking positive, telling herself she'd have later to poke and prod her heart over her feelings and motivations where Danny was concerned. She told herself he'd be there any moment as she forced herself out of a head over feet tumble and stinging slide down the cliff. Her purple leggings were in ruins, and so were her stinging legs. She knew she was going to be in a great deal of pain later.

Finally her decent slowed and Sam sure she would escape the situation alive, maybe a little bruised and banged up but otherwise perfectly fine. But then, she heard the yells of her pursuers on the top of the hill and she lost control of her downward decent again and began rolling down toward a large bolder. She tried to dig her fingers into the sand and gravel to slow herself, but the effort was futile. Knowing there was no escape from the boulder, Sam did her best to situate her body to protect herself from the impact and then everything went dark.

"We're so lucky she was wearing her helmet, Danny," Tucker whispered softly. Sam tried to smile at the sound of her best friend's voice, but she ached all over and smiling hurt. She tried to pry open her eyes so she could look at Tucker and tease him, but her eyelids felt like lead and after fighting to open them she wanted nothing more than to drift back down into the comforting darkness she'd been floating in before Tucker's voice rattled her awake.

"And we're lucky I showed up when I did!" Danny replied as he sat on the side of the bed and placed a cool hand against Sam's cheek.

Sam's eyes fluttered open almost involuntary at his touch and then her breath caught as she looked up into a pair of impossibly blue eyes. "Danny," she whispered softly, her heart started racing as he smiled at her. She wondered idly how anyone could not be in love with Danny's beautiful eyes.

"Hey Sam," he said gently as he continued stroking her cheek. "We were starting to get worried about you." Sam sighed softly and pressed her face to his hand.

"Yeah," Tucker added as he broke the spell in a voice a little too loud for Sam's aching head to tolerate. "We should probably take you to the hospital, you've been out for a while, and yeah we're kinda worried." Sam closed her eyes and took a deep breath, she felt sick to her stomach. Danny was jiggling the bed as he sat on the edge, and the movement made her feel horrible. Her bed? They were in her room?

"How did I get here?" she asked as she pushed Danny from the bed then closed her eyes so she could fight the sick feeling.

Danny reached out and lifted her chin, forcing her to look at him for a moment as he continued to lean over her. "You called me. Do you remember calling me?"

Sam's eyebrows furrowed as she met frightened Danny's gaze. She wanted to forget everything and just melt into those eyes. She wanted to forget Tucker stood a few feet away and pull Danny closer, to press her lips against his and revel in the taste of him. Did she remember how he tasted? Barely, she'd kissed him so long ago that their fake-out make-out was more of a dream than anything else.

"You said," Danny continued steadily as Sam's eyes focused on his mouth. "That you were being chased. I didn't see anyone..."

"Who?" Sam asked as another wave of nausea washed over her. Why did her head hurt so bad?

"We need to take her to the hospital," Tucker told Danny in a hushed tone. Tucker hated hospitals and Sam knew something bad had to have happened for him to even speak the word let alone talk about going. "She could have a fractured skull or something and..."

"No," Sam growled as she attempted to sit up, while Danny tried to make her lay back down. The world began spinning around her and then everything she'd eaten for the past few days came up, spewing all over Danny in the process. After that, everything seemed to happen in slow motion as Sam burned in the fires of intense humiliation. She puked on Danny. She wanted to die.

Danny was calm as Tucker danced away in horror. He told Tucker that they weren't going to take any chances. Sam was going to the hospital. He cleaned himself up, via the blessing which was intangibility, swept Sam up into his arms and told her she was going now and she could fight with him about it later.

"Okay," Sam agreed in uncharacteristic meekness as she allowed herself to snuggle her face into Danny's neck. He smelled so good, she reflected as they flew. It would be so easy to turn the snuggle into a kiss...and another and another...Sam moved her face away from his neck. Kissing him would be like opening up Pandora's box and...She stiffened.

"Box!" she gasped. She had a key to a box! Howard! A man named Howard had given her a key. The people chasing her were after the key. Who were they?

"What's wrong?" Danny asked as he felt Sam tense against him.

"Take me home!" she demanded urgently as she pulled on one of his arms. "Take me home now. It's important Danny. I'm fine! I need to go home!" Sam had to make sure she still had the key. If she lost it, she needed to send Danny after it. She closed her eyes for a moment as she steeled herself against the sick feeling in her head.

"I'm not taking you home," Danny replied stubbornly. "You need a doctor to look at you and...Ouch!! Don't bite me!" He struggled not to drop Sam as she sunk her teeth into his neck.

"I'll bite harder," she warned, her voice muffled against his skin. She knew he could get away from her easily, but was hoping the shock of being bitten would make him listen to her.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Danny shrieked as he turned back toward her house, resisting the urge to rub his neck. "That hurt!"

"The key!" Sam told him, knowing he had no clue what she was talking about. "I have to find the key!"

"You're delirious," Danny stated as he turned back toward the hospital. "As soon as the doctor says your fine..."

"I am fine!" Sam argued as she dug her fingers into Danny's neck. "Please Danny this is a matter of life and death! I need the key! They were after the key!" Danny slowed and drifted to the ground. He put Sam on her feet, watching warily as she jammed her hand in her pocket.

"If it's not here, Danny. I need you to find it. It's important. Really important."

"All right," Danny answered softly as he kept his hands on her shoulders. Sam took a deep breath, put one hand on her chest to steady herself as she nearly sagged in relief at finding the key.

"It's here," she said breathlessly, then hesitated. She wasn't sure if she wanted to show him. It was definitely something ghostly, most likely something from the ghost zone and she had a pretty good inkling of what it might be, and it terrified her.

"Well?" Danny asked softly and Sam smiled at him weakly.

"It's safe," she answered stiffly. She tried her best to remember what Howard told her about the key and the box that went with it. Her stomach lurched again, but she wasn't sure if it was because she was sick or if it was because of the thought of Howard and what she assumed became of him.

Danny feathered the hair off of Sam's face and tilted his head to the side, looking at her thoughtfully and making herself feel uncomfortable under his scrutiny. "What is it, Sam?" he asked softly.

"A key," she replied as she looked away from his electric ghostly green gaze. She closed her eyes tight, but she could still feel him looking at her, questioning her. She loved him like this, in his phantom form, there was something so confident and intense about him, and she...blushed hard.

"A key to what?" Danny asked gently as his finger's curled around Sam's shoulders. She pulled away from him slightly then regretted losing the feel of his strange cool warmth against her skin as he dropped his arms away from her.

"I'm not sure," Sam began as she took a deep breath. She could feel Danny tensing, even though he was no longer touching her, she knew he was expecting her to either give him bad news, or throw up again, he even stepped back slightly in an effort to protect his shoes. She squeezed her eyes tighter as she relived the embarrassment then sighed. "I think it might be the key to something like Pandora's box."

Danny shook his head. "What?"

"You know," Sam continued, wishing she could just lie down. "Pandora was the first woman in Greek mythology. It's a completely sexist myth, she was created as a punishment to man kind and she brought with her a jar, or box containing all the world's evils, which she released."

"So Pandora is evil," Danny stated and Sam sighed.

"I guess, she's supposed to be evil, but the box she carries is the true evil."

"Okay," Danny replied as he rubbed the back of his neck. "But why would the box be evil still? If she's already opened it, it wouldn't be a big deal would it? All the evils of the world have already escaped so...yeah?"

Sam blinked at Danny then squeezed the key in her pocket. "I guess you're right. If the box has already been opened and all the evils have already escaped, then the box would be harmless...except..." She stopped.

"Except what?" Danny asked.

"Hope didn't escape," Sam answered. "So maybe that's what's in the box. Hope, and if it escapes all hope will be lost and..."

"Wait!" Danny growled as he held up one hand to stop Sam's musing. "I don't get it. I mean how stupid are those Greek myth dudes? If that jar or box or whatever contained all the world's evils, what was hope doing in there? Hope isn't evil."

Sam chuckled softly. "I don't know, Danny. It's a myth."

"Then there is no Pandora's box," he said happily as he moved toward Sam. "I can take you to the hospital and we can forget this stupid key, box and whatever issue."

"It's obviously not a myth!" Sam half yelled as she pushed Danny away from her. "Howard died to protect the key, to protect humanity...the world." She frowned. "At least I think he died..."

"Sam," Danny began in an almost placating tone. "You don't know who this guy was. Maybe he was crazy and imagining things. Maybe he was just trying to get the attention of...of...of an attractive young girl. You were alone in the forest Sam! What hell were you doing talking to strange men? Do you have any idea what could have happened to you? How do you know people were after him? Maybe he was tricking you and was going to..."

"Stop!" Sam yelled as she put her hands in her hair in aggravation. "Don't belittle me like that. Don't go assuming that I can't take care of myself against some idiotic pervert!"

"Okay," Danny replied gently, his face full of fear and worry. "Okay, but you also hit your head pretty badly. Maybe, I mean could it be that you imagined..."

"No!" Sam yelled in exasperation. "No it can't be that I imagined anything! What do you think I am? Some histrionic little girl who imagined the big bad wolf was after her? I don't think so, Danny!"

Danny shook his head. "I'm not saying anything like that, Sam."

"I sure sounds like you are," Sam growled as she crossed her arms over her chest and glared at Danny. Her head was pounding like seven dwarves were inside trying to mine diamond with little pick axes, but she held her ground, lifting her chin defiantly, daring Danny to second guess her further.

"I'm not trying to minimize what happened," Danny began softly. "It's just that you took a pretty bad fall and..." He paused and opened and closed his mouth, making it obvious he didn't know what to say next.

"I know what you're trying to tell me," Sam spat angrily. "That there is no key, no box, no danger, it's my imagination running away with me. Well look at this!" She brandished the key from her pocket and shoved it in Danny's face.

"What do you think this is?" she pushed the dully glowing green key toward him. "Is this what my imagination looks like? Tell me? Maybe I'm just too stupid and trusting to realize a fake ghostly key when I see one."

Danny's eyes focused on the key for a moment. He frowned then looked at Sam who was glaring back in intense anger. "I'm sorry," he offered softly.

"You should be!" Sam told him forcefully. "Of all the people in the world...I would have never thought you'd be some...some BOY!"

Danny looked up at the sky in exasperation. "I'm sorry, Sam," he repeated. "I wasn't trying to belittle you or anything. I would have been just as concerned about Tucker. You're my friend and you've been hurt. I just...It's just that I..." He stopped, realizing that if he said anymore, he'd just be digging himself in deeper with Sam.

"Whatever," Sam said coldly as she turned and started walking away. "Maybe we can talk about this tomorrow. Right now I just want to go home and go to bed."

Danny watched her go for a second then changed from ghost mode and followed. "Sam," he said. "You hit your head pretty hard. I think you should go to the hospital."

"I'm feeling just fine," Sam told him flatly. "I didn't hit my head that hard."

"Damn it, Sam!" Danny yelled. "I'm scared! You're scaring me. If I lost you...I...If..Tucker and I lost you, I'd just..we just can't risk losing you."

"I'm fine," Sam asserted as she kept walking. The truth was that she wasn't fine. She felt horrible. Her head was killing her and she wanted nothing more than to just take some pain killer, lie down and forget the events of the afternoon for a little while.

Danny walked beside her, watching her worriedly as they moved at an ever increasingly slow pace. "Sam," he finally said, his tone soft and tender. "May I see the key? If I promise to help, will you go to the hospital?"

Sam stopped and looked down at her boots. She was feeling so sick that she was on the verge of asking Danny to carry her. Her legs felt rubbery and her arms felt too weak to lift. She slowly fished the key back out of her pocket.

"You really think it goes to Pandora's box?" he asked worriedly as she dropped the key onto his palm.

"I don't know," Sam said slowly as she tried to fight back more waves of nausea. "Howard said, that once the box is open, life as we know it is over. There's more...I'm just not feeling well." Danny's eyes snapped up to her face and she smiled at him weakly. She watched Danny frowning as he examined the key. He scratched the back of his neck and looked at her a moment before looking down at the key again.

"What's wrong?" Sam asked softly, the confused and worried look on Danny's face was making her feel all the worse.

"Well," Danny began as he flipped the ornately designed key over and grimaced. "I don't think this key goes to Pandora's box, unless..."

"Unless what?" Sam asked hesitantly.

"Well," Danny said as he held up the key and narrowed his eyes. "Unless Pandora does her banking in the ghost zone, which really isn't completely far fetched, this key doesn't go to her box."

Sam looked at Danny in shock for a moment. "Banking in the ghost zone?" she asked. "That in and of itself is ridiculous Danny. The ghost zone has a bank?"

Danny gave her one of her favorite sly grins. "According to the key it does," he told her as he moved close to her and flipped the key over. He pointed at the soft green glowing imprint on the top of the key.

"Ghost Zone Savings Bank, Safety deposit box number 2619," Sam read out loud, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion, then looked at Danny who was chuckling softly.

"Do you want me to fly into the ghost zone and take a look?" he asked in amusement. "Maybe it's just filled with dust, cobwebs or something equally as dangerous."

"No," Sam growled as she snatched the key out of his hand. "I want you to stay away from this key and away from the box."

"Fine," Danny replied as the smile fled from his face. "But will you let me take you to the hospital?"

"Yes," Sam answered as she shoved the key in her pocket. Her stomach felt like it was turning inside out as her head throbbed. It was so completely absurd that the key belonged to a safety deposit box in the ghost zone. She sighed heavily as Danny transformed to his ghostly self then lifted her into his arms. As silly as it seemed, it was also logical to Sam. If she had something in her possession which could potentially destroy the human race, she'd put it in the ghost zone for safe keeping too.

"So you still think it's Pandora's box?" Danny asked softly as they landed in the back alley behind the hospital.

"I don't know," Sam answered weakly. "I hope not."


End file.
